Letter from the Dean

Dean Lola Eniola-Adefeso

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

This winter and spring have been an incredibly exciting time for UIC’s College of Engineering. After more than a year of collaborating with faculty, students, staff, and alumni, we launched our new strategic plan in February.

Titled “UIC Engineering Rising: Rooted in Chicago, Reaching the World,” the plan defines our mission, vision, values, and goals for the next five years. It builds on our assets— including our incredible location in Chicago, our leading-edge research portfolio, and our diverse academic community— while identifying four strategic priorities for the future:

  • Prepare Next-Generation Engineers
  • Catalyze Signature Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives
  • Be the Destination for Collaboration, Expertise and Problem-Solving
  • Cultivate a Caring, Connected Community and Culture of Excellence

Within each priority area lie several goals, which we have begun translating into an operational plan. You can visit our website to dig deeper into our plans to prepare a highly capable workforce and tackle society’s most pressing challenges. I look forward to keeping you informed of our progress as we work to enhance our impact and unlock our full potential at Chicago’s leading public engineering college.

In this issue of the magazine, you can read about our strengths and accomplishments in many of the initiatives we list in the plan. As we increase our commitment to AI—both to providing AI literacy education to students and by encouraging AI-enabled research—our computer science faculty are finding new ways to reduce the computational energy needed for data centers that power AI.

We also feature our faculty who are working with industry and government partners to innovate in structural engineering, thanks to our unique, large-scale High-Bay Structures Laboratory. As infrastructure continues to age around the country, this work is more important than ever.

As I complete my first full academic year as dean, I continue to be impressed and energized by the UIC Engineering community, which has thrived during these difficult times in higher education. With the launch of our Strategic Plan, I am ready to lead this community on the path that will take our college to the next level. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Sincerely,
Lola Eniola-Adefeso
Dean, UIC College of Engineering